Neal J. Deckant is a Partner with Bursor & Fisher, P.A., where he serves as the firm’s Head of Information & e-Discovery and as Co-Chair of the Appellate Practice Group.  Neal focuses his practice on complex business litigation and consumer class actions.  Prior to joining Bursor & Fisher, Neal counseled low-income homeowners facing foreclosure with a non-profit organization in East Boston.

Neal is admitted to the State Bars of California and New York, and is a member of the bars of the United States District Courts for the Northern, Eastern, Central, and Southern Districts of California, the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, and the bars of the United States Courts of Appeals for the Second, Third, and Ninth Circuits.

Neal received his Juris Doctor from Boston University School of Law in 2011, graduating cum laude with two Dean’s Awards.  During law school, Neal served as a Senior Articles Editor for the Review of Banking and Financial Law, where he authored two published articles about securitization reforms, both of which were cited by the New York Court of Appeals, the highest court in the state.  Neal was also awarded Best Oral Argument in his moot court section, and he served as a Research Assistant for his Securities Regulation professor.  Neal has also been honored as a 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022 Super Lawyers Rising Star.  In 2007, Neal graduated with Honors from Brown University with a dual major in East Asian Studies and Philosophy.  While in college, Neal completed a full English translation of a 1937 Japanese novel.  Neal is a running enthusiast and has placed in the top 10% of light-division male participants in the U.S. Army’s 2017 Bataan Memorial Death March marathon, a grueling 26.2 mile run through the mountainous, high-altitude desert of New Mexico.  Neal is also a certified Advanced Open Water scuba diver.  He is also an amateur radio operator who holds an Extra Class license, the highest granted by the FCC.

Selected Published Decisions

  • Revitch v. New Moosejaw, LLC, 2019 WL 5485330 (N.D. Cal. Oct. 23, 2019), denying defendants’ motions to dismiss consumer’s allegations of state privacy law violations in putative class action.
  • Martinelli v. Johnson & Johnson, 2019 WL 1429653 (N.D. Cal. Mar. 29, 2019), granting class certification of false advertising and other claims brought by purchasers of Benecol spreads labeled with the representation “No Trans Fats.”
  • Dzielak v. Whirlpool Corp., 2017 WL 6513347 (D.N.J. Dec. 20, 2017), granting class certification of consumer protection claims brought by purchasers of Maytag Centennial washing machines marked with the “Energy Star” logo.
  • Duran v. Obesity Research Institute, LLC, 204 Cal. Rptr. 3d 896 (Cal. Ct. App. 2016), reversing and remanding final approval of a class action settlement on appeal, regarding allegedly mislabeled dietary supplements, in connection with a meritorious objection.
  • Marchuk v. Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP, et al., 100 F. Supp. 3d 302 (S.D.N.Y. 2015), granting individual and law firm defendants’ motion for judgment as a matter of law on plaintiff’s claims for retaliation and defamation, as well as for all claims against law firm partners, Nadeem and Lubna Faruqi.
  • Ebin v. Kangadis Food Inc., 297 F.R.D. 561 (S.D.N.Y. 2014), granting nationwide class certification of false advertising and other claims brought by purchasers of purported “100% Pure Olive Oil” product.
  • Ebin v. Kangadis Food Inc., 2014 WL 737878 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 25, 2014), denying distributor’s motion for summary judgment against nationwide class of purchasers of purported “100% Pure Olive Oil” product.

Selected Publications

  • Neal Deckant, X. Reforms of Collateralized Debt Obligations: Enforcement, Accounting and Regulatory Proposals, 29 Rev. Banking & Fin. L. 79 (2009) (cited in Quadrant Structured Products Co., Ltd. v. Vertin, 16 N.E.3d 1165, 1169 n.8 (N.Y. 2014)).
  • Neal Deckant, Criticisms of Collateralized Debt Obligations in the Wake of the Goldman Sachs Scandal, 30 Rev. Banking & Fin. L. 407 (2010) (cited in Quadrant Structured Products Co., Ltd. v. Vertin, 16 N.E.3d 1165, 1169 n.8 (N.Y. 2014); Lyon Village Venetia, LLC v. CSE Mortgage LLC, 2016 WL 476694, at *1 n.1 (Md. Ct. Spec. App. Feb. 4, 2016); Ivan Ascher, Portfolio Society: On the Capitalist Mode of Prediction, at 141, 153, 175 (Zone Books / The MIT Press 2016); Devon J. Steinmeyer, Does State National Bank of Big Spring v. Geithner Stand a Fighting Chance?, 89 Chi.-Kent. L. Rev. 471, 473 n.13 (2014)).

Selected Class Settlements

  • In Re NVIDIA GTX 970 Graphics Chip Litigation, Case No. 15-cv-00760-PJH (N.D. Cal. Dec. 7, 2016) – final approval granted for $4.5 million class action settlement to resolve claims that a computer graphics card was allegedly sold with false and misleading representations concerning its specifications and performance.
  • Hendricks v. StarKist Co., 2016 WL 5462423 (N.D. Cal. Sept. 29, 2016) – final approval granted for $12 million class action settlement to resolve claims that 5-ounce cans of tuna were allegedly underfilled.
  • In re: Kangadis Food Inc., Case No. 8-14-72649 (Bankr. E.D.N.Y. Dec. 17, 2014) – class action claims resolved for $2 million as part of a Chapter 11 plan of reorganization, after a corporate defendant filed for bankruptcy, following claims that its olive oil was allegedly sold with false and misleading representations.